A few personal ramblings:
If you want off the line traction, and that’s really important, then maybe you want 4WD; try the
Cupra ST, R and S3. Pick the one you like and ignore everyone else. Same goes for the interior, image etc.
Excepting standing starts, snow and you being an immensely talented international stunt driver, you really can’t go much faster on the roads than in a stage 1
Cupra 280, they genuinely are stupidly quick, ridiculous really. That transfers well to track in both the wet and dry; you seem to need a lot more power in an R to even attempt to keep up. Amazing that you can have a sensible, under stated commuting car that allows you to rock up to a trackday and be one of the quicker cars there, then amble home in comfort and straight back to family duties.
As a car lover, my
280 has kind of broken me, it just does everything brilliantly with no hassle, so much so it’s taken anyway my desire to get other cars. A bit sad in some respects? Or maybe my priorities have changed. I can’t see us getting rid of the
Cupra for a very long time, if at all, I may turn it into a dedicated track car at some point. Our VW van is a keeper too, just a great bit of kit for an active life. On the other hand, our Mini JCW convertible will be getting swapped at some point and although we wouldn’t object to a 4WD in the family (had S3s etc before), the S3 or R just wouldn’t be on the list because the
Cupra renders them pointless for us. My wife used to be an Audi snob and had a procession of new TTs, S3s etc, the
Cupra broke that habit. Although if they did a convertible, 4WD Audi TT, with four seats, then that might be a consideration
